Unknown Places
by yougotnothingonme
Summary: It is without a doubt that the Mitchell family are one of the most dysfunctional families this side of the Thames. While suffering through a turbulent childhood, Sophie finds it difficult to find her place in her family. Being sixteen is difficult, but being a Mitchell is harder, and Sophie Mitchell is in for a lot more trouble than what she's already faced.
1. Prologue

**Summary:** It is without a doubt that the Mitchell family are one of the most dysfunctional families this side of the Thames. While suffering through a turbulent childhood, Sophie finds it difficult to find her place in a family of hard men, criminals, matriarchs and the like. Being sixteen is difficult, but being a Mitchell is harder, and Sophie Mitchell is in for a lot more trouble than what she has already faced.

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own Eastenders.

* * *

 **Prologue**

Sophie Mitchell was born in fortuitous circumstances.

Since 1998, her parents, Phil and Kathy Mitchell, were going through the process of a divorce and Kathy had since moved to South Africa with the couples young son, Ben. After having had a fling with Phil's brother, Grant, upon her last visit to London, Kathy visits again in December 1999 for her older son, Ian's wedding to Melanie Healy. Amidst talk that they might get back together, Kathy and Phil share a tryst before deciding that their relationship was over and Kathy returned to South Africa not knowing she was pregnant. On 16th October 2000, Kathy gave birth to a healthy baby girl named Sophie Margaret Mitchell. Kathy had not previously let Phil know of her pregnancy, but at Christmas of that year, Kathy wrote him a letter telling him of his new child and attached a photograph of the newborn. Phil, furious that he didn't know of his now ex-wife's pregnancy and the birth of his daughter for so long, lashed out at Kathy's son, Ian, who had known the truth. Ian informs him that Kathy intends to stay in South Africa as she was now seeing a new man. A year later in 2001, Kathy marries Gavin Sullivan in Cape Town. Gavin, Kathy and her two children, Ben and Sophie, lived happily in South Africa for some time.

However, tragedy struck in 2006. Gavin and Kathy were supposedly killed in a accident. Ian was the first to hear of the news and traveled to South Africa to bring his siblings back to London. Nine year old Ben and five year old Sophie live at their brothers house with his wife, Jane, and children, Lucy, Peter and Bobby for a short while. After celebrating Ben's tenth birthday, Phil arrives at the house shortly after discovering the children's return to the U.K. and demands they live with him. A bitter custody battle ensues between Phil and Ian over the children, who eventually go to live with their father. After hostile beginnings, both Ben and Sophie begin to bond with their father.

Both children share a dislike of their fathers girlfriend, Stella Crawford. Stella, equal in his dislike, feels like they are intruding on her and Phil's relationship. Stella begins to abuse the children physically and psychologically. When teachers at school discover bruises on Sophie's arms, she blames them on Ben. Stella further tortures Sophie, telling her that her father doesn't love her and "you should have died with your mummy". On the day of Phil and Stella's wedding, Stella physically threatens Ben and Sophie into silence or else she'd kill them. Before the ceremony could go any further, Ben interrupts and reveals the abuse Stella was inflicting upon them. Phil, in a rage, chases Stella to a nearby abandoned warehouse where she commits suicide by jumping from its roof. Phil, a recovering alcoholic, briefly relapses from the experience, but goes sober again for Ben and Sophie.

Overtime, Sophie develops close relationships with her grandmother, Peggy Mitchell, and her cousin, Ronnie Mitchell. Sophie developed an instant dislike of her great-uncle, Archie Mitchell upon his arrival in Walford. After his engagement to her grandmother, Sophie, now seven, becomes more troublesome and tries to separate the couple. However, she doesn't succeed and Peggy and Archie marry in February 2009. During the wedding, it is revealed that Danielle Jones is Ronnie's daughter that Archie secretly gave up for adoption, telling his daughter she died. Danielle is later killed that day after being hit by a car. Sophie tries to console an upset Ronnie, but to little avail. However, she is happy after Peggy leaves Archie after the secret is revealed. Archie is later murdered on Christmas Day 2009 with a lot of her family as suspects. It is later assumed posthumously that it was Bradley Branning that killed Archie.

In March 2010, Phil's estranged daughter, Louise, from a brief relationship with Lisa Fowler, comes to stay with the Mitchell's. Sophie and Louise, being nine and eight respectively, get on like a house on fire and are inseparable. Ben, Sophie and Louise also gain a new mother figure in their fathers new girlfriend, Shirley Carter and they all move into a house on Albert Square, as Social Services won't allow Phil custody of Louise while they were living at the Queen Victoria pub. Louise and Sophie get up to all sorts of trouble, mostly under the influence of Louise, mainly teasing and being a nuisance to Ben. This all backfires after Louise steals Ben's diary, writing in passages and reading it to their friends at school and Ben lashes out at his two sisters, burning their hands with hot spoons the same way Stella hurt him. Phil suspects something is happening and later finds Ben attempting to do it again, punishing him.

After Peggy returns Louise to her mother and Ben is sent to juvenile detention for seriously attacking Jordan Johnson with a spanner, Phil relapses back into alcoholism and begins an affair with drug addict, Rainie Cross. When Phil develops a crack cocaine addiction in this relationship, Peggy takes Sophie to live with her in the Queen Vic pub. Peggy attempts to get Phil sober by locking him in a room in the pub to make him go cold turkey. Sophie, now ten, is upstairs in her room whenever Phil breaks out and sets the pub ablaze from downstairs while the wedding of Ryan Malloy and Janine Butcher is in full swing. Everyone is quickly evacuated except Phil, Sophie, Stacey Branning, who was hiding in the toilets, and her daughter, Lily, who was asleep upstairs. Scared, Stacey locks her, Lily and Sophie in the living room and grabs attention from those outside. The three of them are quickly rescued, however Sophie develops a lifelong fear of fire as a result.

Peggy leaves Walford as a result and Sophie moves in with her pregnant cousin, Ronnie, and her husband, Jack, while Phil attempts to recover. Sophie returns to Phil and Shirley's house after her father suffers a heart attack. Phil also welcomes Billy's foster son into the Mitchell family, becoming Phil's surrogate son. Ben turns up after being released from juvenile detention and doesn't take too nicely to Jay. However, Jay, Ben and Sophie soon grow a sibling like bond. Phil reacts badly to Ben's confession that he is gay, while Sophie and the rest of her family are accepting of him. Sophie soon starts to grow worried when someone beings to target Phil and the Mitchell family. Sophie, now eleven, discovers that it was Ben who was behind the letters being sent to their father. Ben threatens Sophie when she indicates that she's going to tell their dad. Forcing her into silence, Phil is soon arrest for the murder of Stella Crawford.

Sophie distanced herself from Ben after the revelation that it was him. However, Sophie tells the police that Ben is lying and Phil is released. After the mysterious death of Heather Trott, Sophie notices that her dad, Ben and Jay are acting suspiciously. After Ian goes missing, she starts to suspect that they had something to do with the murder and runs away from Walford. However, having nowhere to go in London, Sophie is soon found and brought home. Phil reassures her that he had nothing to do with killing Heather. Ian is soon found in a homeless shelter after having a mental breakdown.

Phil and Shirley become engaged in August 2012. At their engagement party, Sharon Rickman arrives looking for Phil's help. Sharon, decked out in a wedding dress, walking out on her wedding, but her fiancee still had her son, Dennis. Phil leaves to help her and during this time Shirley finds the photo frame used to kill Heather. Shirley goes back to house, assuming it was Phil and was going to wait for him. Sophie and Ben try to comfort her, but Ben reveals it was him that killed Heather. When Shirley attempts to drown Ben, Phil arrives back and stops her. While convincing Shirley and Sophie not to say anything to the police, Ben hands himself in. After being charged with Heathers murder, Ben faces up to ten years in prison and tells his family not to visit. Phil and Shirley separate.

When Sophie started secondary school, news of her brothers imprisonment had already reached Walford High School. A few girls from the year above start to tease twelve year old Sophie for her family history, calling her derogatory names and making fun of her weight. Along with her father entering into a custody battle with Lola Pearce for her daughter, Lexi, who turns out to be Ben's daughter, Sophie begins to feel isolated both at home and at school. Sophie develops an eating disorder in order to try and cope and begins to loose weight dramatically. Jay notices her change in behavior, but Sophie brushes off his attempts to help her by putting it down to her growing up. Thirteen year old Sophie eventually collapses at school in April 2013 and is taken to hospital where she is found to weigh very little and formally diagnosed with bulimia. Phil decides to send Sophie to a treatment centre for a number of months so that she can recover.

Sophie returns to Walford in August 2013 in order to go back to school. Healthy again, Sophie readjusts to life in Albert Square again and celebrates her thirteenth birthday. Sophie is delighted when Ronnie returns to Walford in September, however this is soon thwarted when her father is seriously injured in a car accident and has to receive life saving surgery. Sophie also bonds with her niece Lexi and in turn develops a close relationship with Lola. There is tension in the square after Phil unknowingly sells the Queen Vic to Shirley's younger brother, Mick. When Sophie's niece Lucy is murdered at Easter 2014 a lot of her family members subsequently become suspects. It is also discovered that Ben had been released from prison early and hasn't made contact with the Mitchell family for months. As Phil attempts to track down his son, Sophie, Jay and Sharon convince him that Ben will come home when he is ready.

Phil and Sharon become engaged, but Sophie soon discovers her fathers illicit activity with Shirley in the run up to the wedding. Distrustful of her dad, Sophie attempts to tell Sharon who reveals she knows Phil was behind the burglary at her bar, the Albert, and that she intends to fleece Phil of all that he's worth. This tension is increased when Ben returns to the square, attempting to reconcile Phil and Shirley before the wedding. In September 2014, the wedding day arrives and Phil and Sharon eventually do marry despite the obstacles in their way. However, it all blows up at the wedding reception and the family bitterly argue. Sophie blames her dad for everything that had gone wrong and storms off. Sophie attempts to run away to her grandmother in Portugal, but she gets word at the airport that Shirley had shot Phil and Sophie comes racing back. Sophie apologies for what she said to her dad after he regains consciousness.

Sophie faced a hard new year after her cousin Ronnie was involved in serious car accident on the day of her wedding. Finding that the cars brakes were purposely cut, the police arrest Phil on charges of attempted murder. Max operates a hostile takeover of the Arches and the Mitchell's vow revenge for the loss of business. While attempting to prove that Phil was being framed by Nick Cotton, he is released on bail and disappears for a short time, but returns. Sophie's worries about her family is not subsided as Ben is arrested in the Lucy Beale case. Ben's girlfriend, Abi gives evidence against her father, Max Branning, and he is arrested. However, Sophie soon figures out with wasn't either of them that killed Lucy and it was, in fact, her nephew, Bobby, who committed the heinous crime. She confronts Ian and Jane on their wedding day.

Fearing that she is falling into a relapse of her eating disorder, Sharon takes a now fourteen year old Sophie away on a girly weekend where they bond immensely, with Sophie finally accepting Sharon as a mother figure in her life. Sophie discovers Ben's on-again-off-again relationship with Paul Coker and tells him she likes Paul more than Abi. Sophie also enters into a relationship of her own with a boy from the year above, Tony Keating. However, he breaks up with her shortly after because she wouldn't sleep with him. In September 2015, Sophie is frantic after her father goes missing. Sophie then finds out that her mum, Kathy, whom she thought was dead for the past ten years, was actually alive and in hiding. They believe that is was Gavin, Kathy's husband, who kidnapped Phil because Kathy left him. Phil is returned and hospitalized, but relapses back into alcoholism after his ordeal.

At Christmas, Phil's enemy, Vincent Hubbard, takes Sophie hostage at gunpoint. Vincent, under the idea that Phil's father, Eric Mitchell, killed his father, Henry Hubbard, wanted to enact revenge on the Mitchell family. When Phil and more of the Mitchell family return to the house, Phil appears one step ahead, having taken Vincent's daughter, Pearl, and hiding her at the creche. Sophie gets out unscathed, but is shaken up by the ordeal. Over New Years 2016, Phil, Ian and Sharon's son, Dennis, are involved in a car accident and Dennis is left severely injured. Phil, who was drunk at the time, is found to have cirrhosis of the liver. Sharon finds out that he is responsible and leaves him. Sophie and Ben, although upset at the knowledge their father only has twelve months to live unless he has a liver transplant, refuse to see him, as he continues to drink. Sophie isn't overjoyed when Abi reveals that she is pregnant with Ben's baby. However, she overhears a conversation between Abi and Babe Smith, where she finds out Abi is faking the pregnancy to maintain her relationship with Ben. Sophie blackmails Abi in order to keep her secret for her. Abi later fakes a miscarriage.


	2. Chapter One

**Summary:** It is without a doubt that the Mitchell family are one of the most dysfunctional families this side of the Thames. While suffering through a turbulent childhood, Sophie finds it difficult to find her place in a family of hard men, criminals, matriarchs and the like. Being sixteen is difficult, but being a Mitchell is harder, and Sophie Mitchell is in for a lot more trouble than what she has already faced.

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own Eastenders.

* * *

 **Chapter One**

Always bright as a button, Sophie Mitchell bounced down the stairs as she ran her fingers through her long blonde hair, fanning it out. At this time of the morning she would usually be getting ready to head out to school, but seeing as it was Easter holidays she didn't have to go. However, her teachers had assigned her a mountainous amount of homework for the two weeks, so Sophie and her best mate, Bex, were going to the library for a few hours this morning to try and work through it. Walking into the kitchen, she was met by her stepmother, Sharon, whizzing around.

"Isn't it nice that one of you actually gets up when you're on school holidays," Sharon addressed her, giving reference to her son, Dennis, who Sophie assumed was still in bed and would stay there until noon.

"That's just because I'm a good girl, Sharon," Sophie smiled, popping a few pieces of bread into the toaster. Despite everything going on around them with her dad drinking again, him and Sharon splitting up, Ben and Abi's "little problem" as Sophie called it, the past few days had actually been relatively quiet and she was enjoying it.

"How is your homework coming along?" Sharon asked in an informative tone. Sophie has not remained silent on her dislike of the amount of homework she had been assigned. Sharon had heard the full brunt of Sophie's ranting. To Sophie, Sharon was basically her mum. She could talk to her about anything and everything. Although Sophie was hostile to Sharon at the start, she soon warmed to her and the two became very close. At the time, Sharon was the mum Sophie never had. It wasn't until she found out that her mum was still alive and came back into her life that things got more complicated. Kathy had been absent from Sophie's life since she was five years old, while Sharon had been there while all the horrible stuff happened in the past few years. While Sophie was still warming to having Kathy back, she treated Sharon as more of a mum than her own.

"Alright," Sophie said, turning around and putting her hands on the kitchen counter. "Bex and I are going to the library to try and get through some this morning."

"That's good," Sharon said, still whizzing around the kitchen doing last minute jobs before she left for the morning. "You know if you work hard this year, it's only going..."

"It's only going to pay off for me next year," Sophie finished her sentence. "I know, I know." Sophie was in Year Ten and would be sitting her GCSE's next June. Sophie was determined to do well and had, so far, being achieving high grades in school, despite her circumstances.

"At a girl," Sharon smiled. "Alright, I need to go out for a few hours. Ben already said he'd come by and make sure Denny's alright in an hour or two."

"I can make him lunch," Sophie offered. "You know, when Bex and I decide to leave."

"That would be perfect," Sharon said, opening the kitchen door. "Thanks Sophie."

"Anytime," Sophie smiled, hearing the toast pop behind her.

* * *

After writing Dennis a note to say to text her if he needed anything, Sophie grabbed her schoolbag and made a swift exit, locking the door behind her. Coming out her gate, she was met almost immediately by her best friend, Bex. Since Bex had moved back to Walford with her mum a few years ago, her and Sophie had almost been inseparable. Living practically next door to each other, the girls saw each other every day and are even making plans to celebrate their 16th birthday together - their birthdays falling just over a week apart.

"Alright," Sophie greeted her friend, adjusting her backpack comfortably on her shoulders. "How's Stacey and the baby?"

"Yeah they're fine," Bex replied. "Stace seems loads better and Arthur's gotten so big."

"That's brilliant, Bex," Sophie smiled.

"Have you spoken to your dad yet?" her friend asked her as they rounded Albert Square and came to the neck of Bridge Street. Things had been tough in the Mitchell house since New Years. Her dad and Sharon had split up after a car accident and her dad's drinking and behaviour had been getting continuously worse. Sophie had tried to help him - if he didn't stop drinking, he would be dead by Christmas according to the doctors - but it had fallen on deaf ears. Sophie was beginning to accept that he didn't want to be helped and she wasn't going to get herself hurt again by trying to help a lost cause. Even if it was her dad.

"Nope," Sophie said as the pair of teenagers walked up Bridge Street. By chance, not too far in front of her was her dad. Phil Mitchell was obviously arguing with Ben over something and as they drew closer, their voices became clearer. "But it looks like I'm going to now."

"What so I watch them while you get tanked up?" Ben reprimanded, pointing at their cousin Billy's kids, Janet and William. Sophie thought Billy must have been bonkers to leave them with her dad for the day. "Nah, I'll tell you what, Dad. Why don't you go buy yourself a big bottle of vodka? And another; And then another; And you drink yourself to death and when I have my kid, I won't even tell him who you were."

"Ben," Sophie butted in as she drew closer. The two fifteen year old's stopped in front of Sophie's family. "Bex, you head on, I'll be there in a few."

"Alright," Bex nodded and quickly scuffled past the Mitchell's.

"What's going on?" Sophie asked, looking between her dad and older brother.

"We're going to an Easter egg hunt," Phil told her, looking down at the two younger Mitchell's. "Me, William and Janet. If you want to join us?"

"I'm going to the library with Bex," Sophie told him in a flat tone. "We've got work for the holidays we need to get done."

"Okay then," Phil nodded. Sophie stood with her hands in her pockets, looking between her dad and Ben in an awkward silence.

"Ben," Sophie gestured for him to follow her and she moved away from the scene. Walking further down Bridge Street and out of ear range of her father, Sophie turned to her brother. "What do you think you're playing at?"

"Billy's an idiot leaving his kids with him," Ben said, walking along side his younger sister. "He's only going to go looking for a drink at first opportunity."

"Then let him," Sophie scoffed. "He's dying, Ben, and just 'cause he doesn't want any help from us, doesn't mean we can be that cruel. He's still our dad."

"No, that is not our dad, Soph," Ben said, stopping and turning to face her. When Sophie didn't, Ben grabbed her arm gently to stop her from getting too far ahead. "You can live in whatever fairy tale you want, but as far as I'm concerned, Phil Mitchell is as good as dead to me." Before Sophie could say anything back, Ben stalked on off in the opposite direction that Sophie needed to travel in. Not up for a fight with her brother at this hour of the day, Sophie turned on her heels and made her way to Walford Community Library.

* * *

After her run with with her brother and dad earlier in the morning, Sophie found it difficult to concentrate. She got hardly any work done in comparison to Bex, who seemed to be flying through her coursework. It came to lunchtime and the pair soon decided to leave the library - Sophie from lack of motivation to do anything and Bex because she promised to go to the Easter egg hunt with her dad, Stacey, Lily and Arthur. As Bex continued on to her dad's flat, Sophie took out her phone and played the video clip she had watched over and over again. Sophie couldn't believe it when she began overhearing Abi talking to one of the locals, Babe Smith, about her pregnancy and how she had been faking it in order to keep Ben in their relationship. Sophie wasn't too pleased at the idea of having a niece or nephew, mainly because she never tolerated Abi. When Abi and Babe began to plot further about keeping the lie going, Sophie began to record it. After a few weeks of deliberating what do with her evidence, she finally had an idea.

Sophie entered the Queen Vic pub and made a bee-line straight for the kitchens. Sophie would be lying if the premises still didn't give her an uneasy feeling, but it was bearable. It was understandable she felt that way, she nearly died in a fire that engulfed the building when she was ten. Coming closer to the entrance of the kitchen, she could hear Babe and Abi talking.

"What am I going to do?" Abi said in a panicked tone. "He wants a scan." Sophie poised herself by the door to listen further while remaining out of sight. "And if he doesn't want a scan, he'll want something else. Then he'll find out that I've been lying and then he'll leave me. He's only with me because he thinks that I'm pregnant." Sophie had to hold herself back from peering in when silence echoed from the doorway. "I love him so much." Sophie rolled her eyes and knocked on the counter.

"Alright," Sophie greeted them with smile, noticing that she had startled them immensely.

"What do you want?" Babe questioned with an unloving expression.

"I was wondering if I could borrow Abi for a second?" Sophie questioned, narrowing her eyes at her brothers girlfriend. Sophie's distaste for her was reciprocated. "There's something I need to talk to her about." Taking off her apron in silence, Abi emerged from the Queen Vic kitchen.

"What?" Abi asked, looking at Sophie with irritation in her eyes. Although Sophie never got up to much trouble, she always loved winding Abi up. Even when she was going out with Jay, Abi and Sophie couldn't stand each other.

"Not here," Sophie lead the way towards the Vic bathrooms with Abi following her lead.

"Look whatever it is, Sophie, can you get it over with quickly," Abi said, crossing her arms over her midriff. "I need to get back to work."

"How long did you think you could keep it up for?" Sophie asked, passing her phone between her hands.

"Keep what up for?" Abi queried back, a nervous tone emerging in her voice.

"Don't act dumb, Abi," Sophie said, taking a step closer. "Because both of us know you're not pregnant." Abi stood in silence looking at her boyfriends sister. "What were you going to do? Wear a fake belly whenever Ben realises that you weren't getting any bigger? Or when it's time to have the kid? Were you just going to go down to park and steal the first one you see?"

"How long have you known?" Abi's face was was devoid of emotion.

"Few weeks," Sophie said. "I heard you and Babe talking one day. I've just been trying to decide what to do."

"Who have you told?" Abi questioned.

"No one."

"There's a surprise."

"But I could," Sophie narrowed her eyes crossing her arms over her chest. "I wonder Ben would stick around once he knew the truth?"

"Like he'd believe you over me?" Abi posed confidently to the fifteen year old in front of her.

"We may fight, Abi, but he's still my brother," Sophie stated. "Telling him and getting him excited about being a dad when none of it is true is cruel. Besides, I have proof."

"Yeah, right," Abi scoffed. Sophie unlocked her phone and began playing the video already open.

" _As long as he still thinks you're pregnant, you're made up_ ," the voice of Babe Smith echoed through the pub toilets. " _There is nothing to worry about_." The colour drained from Abi's face in shock and a small smirk curled from Sophie's mouth.

" _He's going to notice sooner or later that there is no baby and that there never was one_ ," Sophie cut off Abi's voice and locked her phone again.

"If I were you Abi, I wouldn't want this falling into the wrong hands," Sophie told her. Abi had evolved from shock to anger quickly.

"I'm not going to be threatened a kid," Abi spat. "You're only bluffing anyway. You'd never send it. You wouldn't ruin his life."

"You really think I wouldn't?" Sophie questioned, taking a step closer to the older girl. "You're right though. Ben would shoot the messenger and he'd be mad a me for a while. But you, you'd be out on your ear and I'll still be where I've always been, because after all these years, despite everything that's happened, we still look out for each other. We're family." Abi was frozen still, no muscle moving on her face. "I'd like to see you try to worm your way out of this one." Sophie took a step to the side of Abi to make an exit, but Abi stopped her.

"Please don't," Abi requested, turning on her heels.

"Don't beg, Abi," Sophie rolled her eyes at her. "Tell him the truth before I have to do it." Quickly, Sophie moved out the door of the Queen Vic toilets and made her way around the bar. Before she even realised, she was met by a panicked Billy and Honey Mitchell.

"Has anyone seen our little girl?" Honey was asking around the patrons at the bar.

"What's going on?" Sophie asked her cousin as she got closer.

"Phil's lost Janet," Sophie sighed heavily at what Billy just told her. "Have you seen her?"

"No, not since this morning," replied Sophie, moving herself towards the door of the Vic. "But I'll help look for her now. She can't have gone far."

"Thanks Soph," Honey remarked as Sophie exited the bar.

* * *

Moving around the square as quick as she could, Sophie kept her eyes peeled for her little cousin. Sophie knew it was a bad decision to leave Janet and William with her dad given his current state, but she never thought in a million years that one of them would end up missing.

"Janet?" Sophie called out, hoping she would pop out from somewhere. Sophie checked all the nooks and crannies of the playground. "Janet? Are you in here?" Sophie called as she moved towards the open door of the Arches mechanics. Sophie stopped in her tracks when the only thing she saw was her dad sitting at the desk with a bottle of vodka in front of him. "You have got to be kidding me?"

"Don't you start and all," Phil warned his daughter.

"Are you thick?" Sophie questioned. "Why would you get drunk while you're supposed to be looking after children?"

"I wasn't drunk," Phil replied, not even looking at Sophie.

"Because you look so sober now?" silence fell in the garage. "Dad, we're not telling you to stop drinking for the fun of it. Its because things like this keep happening. You keep hurting more and more people and pushing them out of your life. You've done it to Sharon, to Ben and I won't be surprised if there goes Billy too. You can't blame them for your mistakes."

"Why are you still here then?" Phil asked. "If I'm such a disaster?"

"I have one foot out that door already, but I want to help you. You're my dad. It's just going in one ear and out the other with you and I'm almost ready to walk out," Sophie continued to rant. "Dad, it's killing you. Not only will you have no one left if you keep drinking, you're going to die. Do you really want to drink yourself into an early grave with nothing left but his empty bottles of vodka?" Phil stayed silent, not even looking up at his fifteen year old daughter. Instead, Sophie just scoffed and left him to his own devices. While moving through the playground back towards the square, Sophie felt her phone buzz in her pocket.

 **From: Honey**  
 _Janet found in the Vic xx_

Quickly, Sophie made her way to the pub. The first scene she spotted was Billy and Janet fawning over their daughter; the second was her brother at the bar.

"It's all happy families again, is it?" Sophie asked, perching her arms on the side of bar beside Ben.

"Looks that way," he replied, taking a drink of his beer.

"Oh hi Sophie," Tina asked, moving around the bar. "Would you like anything?"

"Just an orange juice please," Sophie ordered, watching the scene in front of her.

"Here you go, that's-" Tina began, her eyes wandering to something behind Sophie. "Phil."

"What?" her dad's voice sounded form behind her. Sophie didn't turn to face him and, instead, took a drink of her juice.

"We trusted you," Honey spat with anger in her voice, as Phil stepped towards them with Sophie and Ben watching the scene.

"Janet," he slurred.

"Don't you dare come near us," Honey warned.

"This is like watching something from Corrie," Sophie whispered to Ben, taking another drink of her orange juice.

"You do not come near my children again," Honey said, stalking off out of the pub with her young daughter.

"The girl's alright," Phil pointed out. "She's alright."

"You're out of the flat. Today," Billy spoke forcefully.

"You running out of sofas?" Ben teased. Sophie looked at him from the side of her eye, noticing his girlfriend approaching them.

"Ben," she warned, resting a hand on his shoulder.

"I feel sorry for you," Sophie watched her dad slur at Abi. She began to feel a sense of sadness as her outburst probably prompted him to come over here. "And that kid you're carrying, because his dad's a joke."

"I'm the joke?" Ben asked, standing up to square up to their dad.

"Ben, leave it," Sophie warned him.

"And you," he pointed at Billy.

"Get out," Shirley's voice echoed from behind the bar.

"You hear her," Billy took a step closer to Phil. "Get out."

"Finally Billy, finally," Phil laughed as the Mitchell's grew closer around him.

"No one wants you here," Ben told him.

"Sophie," she watched her dad turn to look at her. "Sophie wants me here."

"Dad, leave," she annunciated, taking a shaky breath in after a few moments of silence.

"You heard her," Ben forced. "Your daughter ain't you around, so go."

"You want a row, eh?" Phil warned, turning to his son. "You want a row?"

"Go on, hit your own son, classy," said Ben, growing tired of his father. "If Gran could see you now, she'd be disgusted."

"Ben," Sophie cried out as her dad wrapping his hand around the back of his neck.

"Stop it," Abi called out, before getting into the crossfire of the argument that had ensued and was knocked forcefully to the ground. Ben called out for his girlfriend and moved to her.

"Ben, the baby," Abi spoke with a shaky voice. Sophie's eyes narrowed and scoffed at her as she played it up, taking another drink of her orange juice.


End file.
